The Vatican says Pope Francis has been misquoted on possible reform of priestly celibacy and the level of paedophilia.

AFP: Osservatore Romano

Pope Francis has been quoted as saying reliable data indicates about 2 per cent of the Catholic Church clergy are paedophiles, in a report that was quickly refuted by the Vatican.

In an interview last week with the Italian daily La Repubblica, the Pope was quoted as saying that clerical sexual abuse of children is like a leprosy infecting the church.

He cited his aides as saying that "the level of paedophilia in the Church is at 2 per cent".

"That 2 per cent includes priests and even bishops and cardinals," the Pope is quoted as saying, estimating that around 8,000 of the more than 400,000 clergy are involved - including priests, bishops and cardinals.

He is reported as saying more knew about the issue but keep quiet, a state of affairs he says is intolerable.

Pope Francis also promised "solutions" to the issue of priestly celibacy and raised the possibility the Catholic Church could eventually lift a ban on married priests.

Asked whether priests may one day be allowed to marry, the Pope pointed out that celibacy was instituted "900 years after Our Lord's death" and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage.

"There definitely is a problem, but it is not a major one. This needs time but there are solutions and I will find them," the Pope said, without giving details.

But Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the quotations in the newspaper on the existence of paedophile cardinals and the possible reform of priestly celibacy were not what the Pope actually said.

"This is not at all an interview in the normal sense of the word," the spokesman said, accusing the newspaper of "manipulating ingenuous readers".

The interview was the third in a series with the 90-year-old founder of the La Repubblica daily, Eugenio Scalfari, a famous journalist and known atheist.